The Best Places To Eat In Valparaiso

So as I no longer live in Valpo, I was thinking about the places I'll miss when I'm hungry.

1. Allegretto: Pilcomayo, just behind the Anglican Church, Cerro Concepcion. The best pizzas in town, friendly and welcoming staff and decor and open all the time. If you're ever hungry on a Sunday night, Allegretto is pretty much the only place open. It was always my go-to place whenever I was hungry and there was no food in the house.
2. Pastis: On the corner of Subida Concepcion and Pilcomayo, Cerro Concepcion. Duck to die for, amazing quiches, cute decor. Probably one of the best restaurants in Chile.
3. Mastodonte: Esmeralda, just down from Plaza Anibal Pinto. Best and cheapest lunches in town (2000 pesos for a well-presented and really good carne al jugo con arroz y ensalada chilena and a soft drink). Plus the decor is so unbelievably kitsch that you have to go check it out.
4. Le Filou de Montpellier: Great value French food, entertaining owner. Corner of Almte Montt and Urriola. It's never let me down.
5. Cafe Turri: Next to Ascensor Concepcion. Surprisingly good value and really pretty good food plus fantastic views.

I'll be back with more of my Valpo faves over the next few weeks. If you didn't know, I'm now living in Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley, Chile, where I'm about to go to a two year old's birthday party after taking the dog for a long walk. Isn't life exciting?

How To Get From Valparaiso To Santa Cruz...

...because that's where you want to visit after spending a few days exploring Valpo...

The fastest way would be to simply click on Colchaguino for a virtual trip. The other ways would be:

• By car: The long, more expensive (petrol and tolls) but infinitely easier way is to take Ruta 68 all the way to Santiago, connect onto the Costanera Norte and then take the exit to Ruta 5 Sur until you hit San Fernando. Exit in San Fernando following the signs to Santa Cruz Casino. From Valpo it'll take around 4 hours including a short pit-stop.
• By car: The quicker, more complicated way- Exit Ruta 68 at Casablanca and follow signs to San Antonio. Follow the signs to Santo Domingo and Llolleo and you'll avoid having to drive through one of Chile's most revolting cities. Stay on that road for an hour or so, drive past Lago Rapel and then take a right at Cruce Las Aranas where the sign says 'Santa Cruz Casino'. Keep following those signs until you reach Santa Cruz. This way will take a around 3 hours if you don't get lost and it's a really pretty drive so worth the risk.
• By bus: Take a bus to San Fernando, change to a local bus to Santa Cruz. This way will take you over 5 hours.
• By bus and train: Bus to Santiago Estacion Central, train to San Fernando and then bus to Santa Cruz. A more pleasant way to travel.

Colchaguino

On Tuesday we're moving down to Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley, Chile. The move is making me slightly crazed...I'm trying to fit a 200m2 house into a 100m2 house. I don't think it's going to work, to be quite honest.

Anyway, blogging has commenced over at Colchaguino, so please head on over and visit. And if anyone is ever down Santa Cruz way, please feel free to get in touch. I'm always happy to meet up with visitors.

I'm Sure This Should Be Considered Offensive...

...a clothes shop for larger than average people called "Little Fatties".

I'm really not sure why, in the Spanish language, it's considered appropriate to be so rude about people's appearance...but it is...and it's the same in every Spanish speaking country I've been to.

Valpo: Home

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged. I've become a little lazy over the past few months as my time has been more limited due to work and other commitments. I just got back from an entire month in the US on holiday which was pretty great but it's nice to be home again...even if it's just for a very short while before moving down to Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley (where I can assist you in buying a vineyard in Chile if you wish).

So you already know I was in New York. We spent two weeks in total in the city, upstate and out in the Hamptons and had a fantastic time seeing family and friends. The only downer was getting bitten by a tick in the Hamptons, contracting Lyme Disease and then having my last two weeks of fun in Seattle and San Francisco a tiny bit ruined by the ensuing symptoms of crushing depression, extreme fatigue, headaches, body aches, memory loss, brain fog, confusion, panic, heart palpitations, mood swings and generally feeling all-round rubbish. These were all constants throughout the week in Seattle but were intermittent by the time we got to San Francisco which allowed me to enjoy at least some of my time there.

Actually, I really liked Seattle. The setting is beautiful and there's quite a lot to do. I'm looking forward to going back when I'm not wanting to crawl into a dark corner and cry.

And San Francisco is now one of my favourite cities in the world. So much fun, so much diversity, such a tiny, beautiful city. The food is amazing, the architecture fantastic, the natural setting awesome...I didn't want to leave.

We also spent two days in Sonoma, Napa Valley and stayed with a friend who is a vineyard appraiser. He gave us the scoop on values, who's bankrupt, who's fighting with whom and a fantastic tour of the best restaurants. We had such a good time. It was fascinating to see the Valley- it looks identical to the land around Santa Cruz and also Casablanca. The only difference is that it costs us$650,000 a hectare in Napa and an absolute maximum of us$100,000 a hectare for the best vineyard land in Santa Cruz (the Apalta Valley to be exact). Santa Cruz has a way to go yet...

So here are a lot of photos from the trip.

Cocktails on Sunset Beach, pre-tick bite, now I can't really drink as I'm on antibiotics for 3 months :(

Sunset on Vashon Island, Seattle

Mount Rainier in the background

More Seattle

Napa Valley...

Fancy Yountville dog treats

At the doctor's office proudly holding my (still alive and engorged) tick before it was sent off for analysis. I won't mention where I found it on my body...

One of the prettiest and best maintained vineyards I've ever seen, managed by a US friend from Valpo...

More Napa

But this is Chile...

San Francisco...Alcatraz first

Bay Area

Cool architecture

Chinatown

I'm really not sure I'll have any time in the next 2-3 weeks to blog...I've got so much on at the moment. Probably by the time I have a spare minute to write anything, I'll already be in Santa Cruz, Chile and writing on my new blog, Colchaguino. Corrugated City will be updated on occasion as well- I've got a whole load of old photos to post...

Anonymity

I stand out quite a lot in Chile- over 6 feet tall, white skin, blue eyes, 'blond' is not your average Chilean. And Chileans do love to stare, a trait they share with all their South American cousins. After close to six years, it really doesn't bother me at all. I normally use my foreign-ness to make my life easier in Chile and have become quite used to being stared at.

One thing I love about New York is that no matter what you look like and no matter what you're wearing, nobody else is even slightly interested in you. It's really liberating to start with...

But I don't think I could live my life being anonymous. I've actually grown to enjoy being a curiosity in South America. I'm happy in my own skin and don't feel self-conscious when people stare. It's nice that people recognise me and that I'm remembered when I go into shops and restaurants. I think it makes me feel a little special. And that makes me happy.

New York

So I have a few minutes free to post some photos from my first few days here in the US.

We arrived on Saturday, 4th July. Incredibly, we got through customs and immigration in about 25 minutes. At JFK this is unheard of. The immigration officer even smiled. Wow.

Saturday was spent brunching, watching a free Conor Oberst concert in Battery Park and then watching the 4th July fireworks from the rooftop of a friend's apartment building. Having seen two new years in Valparaiso, the fireworks were a bit of a disappointment. As someone said after last new year, "Valpo has ruined fireworks everywhere else for me forever".

Now in upstate New York, back to the city for the weekend, up to East Hampton for a couple of days to visit a friend, back to the city again for a wedding and then off to Seattle. Busy...but fun.

Now for the photos. Sorry about the quality but I forgot my camera so these are from my phone.

Looking east from around W 43rd St next to the Hudson just before nightfall.


Fireworks- in the distance you can see that Jersey got a head start on Manhattan.




And finally...I seemed to be the only person enjoying the irony of 100 people arriving at 'land of the free' in the US anthem with a giant CCTV camera directly in front :)

Away

I've had precisely no time at all the past week to blog...and later this afternoon I'm heading off on a one month trip to the US....New York, Seattle and San Francisco. I really can't wait to be on that plane, the last few weeks have been really crazy with work and other things. I've finally got everything organised, including a house and cat sitter who is recovering from swine flu...I hope it doesn't mutate into feline flu :)

Anyway, chances are I won't be doing much blogging on my trip although I'll try to post a few photos of various places. And when I get back, I'll have just a couple of weeks more in Valpo before moving to Santa Cruz where I'm really looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life (although I'll be doing the same work- that's real estate in Chile in case you didn't already know...).

So I'll leave you for now with a photo of where I'm leaving, a photo of where I'm heading to in August and proof that my cat deserves his name 'Tonto'.

Ascensor Polanco

I wrote about Cerro Polanco a little while ago. As I have no time at the moment to blog properly, here's a photo of how it used to look sometime in the early 1900s.

HMS Manchester in Valparaiso

On Monday the Royal Navy's HMS Manchester docked in Valparaiso. A few weeks ago, one of the crew had contacted me after finding this blog and asked about organising a wine tour for some of the guys (and girls) on the ship. As this was a large group, I sent them over to Michael at Wine Tours Valparaiso who organised tours over two days for junior and senior officers. By all accounts, they had a pretty fantastic time. After being stuck on board eating, quiet frankly, awful food, a gourmet lunch and wine tasting tour was apparently the highlight of their journey so far.

After going out for drinks with some of the crew on Tuesday, we were invited aboard the ship on Thursday morning. I actually thought it would just be a quick half hour walk around the boat but the guys gave us a complete tour of pretty much every part of the ship. We even had lunch in the mess hall (which is how I know the food is rubbish...). And on top of this, they gave us a huge bag of tea, bacon and sausages. I love the Royal Navy :)

What I found interesting is that on board life reminded me so much of going to boarding school. The banter between the people, the smell of the living quarters, the food, the atmosphere, the drills, the punishments for stepping out of line, the respect shown to superiors and also to each other...It was all so similar. The difference is, obviously, that these people are adults. I loved boarding school as a kid. But going to boarding as an adult would be a nightmare...

When US Navy ships have come to Valpo in the past, I've always noticed a rather large increase in referring traffic to this blog for Google searches for ladies of the night. This time, not a single search of that nature. I found that interesting.

In fact, the British sailors were all remarkably well behaved...with one exception. Two crew members made national and international news after stealing a Ronald Mcdonald statue, throwing it in the harbour and getting fined about 300,000 Pesos for their troubles. Whoops.

Our fantastic guide and his living quarters (along with another 30 guys).


The RN still press-gangs children into active service.


But I'm not sure this should be encouraged. Children and machine guns are not usually the best combination.

Then again, the same could be said about adults with GPMGs and SA80s. I should probably add that I'm really not a fan of guns and if this thing had been loaded I'd have almost certainly run away terrified.



This Lynx helicpoter comes from Westlands factory in Yeovil. Yeovil is one of the most unpleasant towns in England. The service crew who live on base at Yeovilton when in England all agreed with me. When back home, I live in lovely Sherborne, just 5 miles from Yeovil but a world away in terms of quality of life.


School dinners!


These three boats are all old Royal Navy vessels sold to the Chilean Navy. Britain and Chile maintain strong naval ties and many Chilean officers are sent over to Portsmouth for training. The Manchester would have been a candidate for sale a few years ago but is now so old and in such poor condition overall, the crew all seem to think it'll just be scrapped. It was built in 1978 and is showing its age.

The RN is a very welcoming bunch.


The boat to the right is from the Brazilian Navy, also in Valpo for a few days.